During surgical procedures and other medical procedures, it is often necessary to determine if a patient has any allergies that may be aggravated during the procedure. Testing for allergies can be a long process. Often, an immediate answer is needed during the procedure.
Extensive use of certain compounds in home and health care products (oral care products, contact lens care products, dressings, ointments, soaps, cosmetics) is causing a larger population to become pre-sensitized to such particular agents. When a pre-sensitized person comes in contact with such an agent, there is a high probability that person could develop much stronger symptoms as severe as anaphylactic shock with cardiac arrest. Currently known tests for such allergies cannot be performed at the patient bedside as they are time consuming, and involve numerous steps and equipment.
It is therefore desirable to provide a device for integrating allergy testing into a medical device.